1 Corinthians 5:1

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. As a puffed-up spirit caused their strifes, Paul humbles them by convicting them of sin. The best community may have an individual offender; but its duty is to punish such a one. In this the Corinthians had failed. COMMONLY, [ holoos (G3654)] - rather, 'with all your self-satisfaction, it is actually, or after all, reported,' etc. The Greek word is adversative to a negative sentence understood or expressed. 'There ought to be no fornication at all; but nevertheless, it absolutely is reported.' So I must come invested "with a rod" (1 Corinthians 3:21). It is reported....

1._It is generally reported that there is among you. _Those contentions having originated, as has been observed, in presumption and excessive confidence, he most appropriately proceeds to make mention of their diseases, the knowledge of which should have the effect of humbling them. First of all, he shows them what enormous wickedness it is to allow one of their society to have an illicit connection with his mother-in-law. It is not certain, whether he had seduced her from his father as a prostitute, or whether he kept her under pretense of marriage. This, however, does not much affect, the subject in hand; for, as in the former case, there would have been an abominable and execrable whoredom, so the latter would have involved an incestuous connection, abhorrent to all propriety and natural decency. Now, that he may not seem to charge them on doubtful suspicions, he says, that the case w...

1-8 The apostle notices a flagrant abuse, winked at by the Corinthians. Party spirit, and a false notion of Christian liberty, seem to have saved the offender from censure. Grievous indeed is it that crimes should sometimes be committed by professors of the gospel, of which even heathens would be ashamed. Spiritual pride and false doctrines tend to bring in, and to spread such scandals. How dreadful the effects of sin! The devil reigns where Christ does not. And a man is in his kingdom, and under his power, when not in Christ. The bad example of a man of influence is very mischievous; it spreads far and wide. Corrupt principles and examples, if not corrected, would hurt the whole church. Believers must have new hearts, and lead new lives. Their common conversation and religious deeds must be holy. So far is the sacrifice of Christ our Passover for us, from rendering personal and public...

CHAPTER V. _Account of the incestuous person, or of him who had married his_ _father's wife_, 1. _The apostle reproves the Corinthians for their carelessness in_ _this matter, and orders them to excommunicate the transgressor_, 2-5. _They are reprehended for their glorying, while such scandals_ _were among them_, 6. _They must purge out the old leaven, that they may properly_ _celebrate the Christian passover_, 7-9. _They must not associate with any who, professing the Christian_ religion,

IT IS REPORTED - Greek It is heard. There is a rumor. That rumor had been brought to Paul, probably by the members of the family of Chloe, 1 Corinthians 1:11. COMMONLY - Ὅλως Holōs. Everywhere. It is a matter of common fame. It is so public that it cannot be concealed; and so certain that it cannot be denied. This was all offence, he informs us, which even the pagan would not justify or tolerate; and, therefore, the report had spread not only in the churches, but even among the pagan, to the great scandal of religion - When a report obtains such a circulation, it is certainly time to investigate it, and to correct the evil. THAT THERE IS FORNICATION - See the note at...

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 _Excommunication of an incestuous offender._ 1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 IT IS REPORTED. The abruptness with which the subject is introduced shows THE intensity of St. Paul's feelings, and his indignation that he should have been left to hear of this crime by common report. The news had come to him "from those of Chloe's household." But St. Paul was not acting on mere "report." The Greek phrase _implies, _"It is notorious that there is uncleanness among you." St. Paul must have felt it to be a bad feature in the character of the Corinthian Church that they had not mentioned this gross scandal in their letter. COMMONLY; rather, actuall

IT IS REPORTED COMMONLY THAT THERE IS FORNICATION AMONG YOU,.... The apostle having reproved the Corinthians for their schisms and divisions about their ministers, proceeds to charge them with immoralities committed among them, and which were connived at, and took no notice of by them; and particularly a very notorious one, which he here mentions with its aggravated circumstances. It was done among them; not only by one of their citizens, nor merely by one of their hearers, but by one of their members, and so was cognizable by them as a church; for though they had nothing to do with them that were without, yet they were concerned with them that were within: this was a public offence; it was known by everyone, and it was in everybody's mouth; it was heard in all companies; it was "commonly", ολως, "universally" talked of, and reported; it was generally known at Corinth, and in all Achaia...

3. CORINTHIAN FAILURES. CHAPTER S 5-6. CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The Tolerated Case of Gross Immorality. (1 Corinthians 5:1)._ 2. The Call to Separation. (1 Corinthians 5:6). The spiritual declension, the carnal spirit which prevailed among them, had brought forth fruit. One of their members had committed an act of the grossest immorality, which was an unspeakable outrage, such as was not even named in a licentious city like Corinth, where licentiousness of life was a broadly marked feature of society. It was a case of lawlessness and vileness, which was unknown among the heathen. And this case was tolerated in their midst. Instead of mourning over their sin they were puffed up and did not put away the evil doer from the assembly. If they lacked the personal instructio

1 CORINTHIANS 5. THE CASE OF INCEST. Paul now passes from the parties to a case of immorality exceptionally hideous and, so far as his knowledge goes, unprecedented even among the heathen. It is everywhere reported (he probably means, though the wording is loose, that the scandal has spread far beyond Corinth) that a member of the church has taken his father's wife as his wife (or concubine). The father was probably dead: to have taken her while he was still alive would have so gravely aggravated the offence that Paul could scarcely have failed to mention it explicitly. We cannot urge that Paul speaks of him in 2 Corinthians 7:12 as still alive, for the language here and in 2 Corinthians 2:5 * does not suit the case of incest. Here Paul is concerned with the offence not simply in itsel

It is actually reported that there is unchastity among you, and unchastity so monstrous that it does not even exist among the heathen, unchastity the consequence of which is that a certain man has formed a union with his father's wife; and you have regarded the matter with inflated self-complacency and you have not--as you should have--regarded it with a grief so bitter that it would take steps to see that the perpetrator of this deed should be removed from your midst. Now I, absent in the body but present in the spirit, have already come to a decision as if I were present. Regarding the man who has perpetrated this deed, it is my judgment that when you have assembled together in the name of the Lord and when my spirit is with you, backed by the power of the Lord Jesus, you should hand over this man who has acted in such a way to Satan until his sinful lusts shall be eliminated from his...